The present discloser relates to the field of needle procedure guidance systems. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to an optical based system for needle procedure guidance.
Needle based interventional procedures, for example biopsies, cementoplasties, thermal ablations, or transpendicular screw placement, are guided by imaging systems. Imaging guidance systems may include those based upon ultrasound, computed tomography (CT) or interventional X-ray.
In interventional X-ray guided needle procedures, preoperative 3D imaging, for example CT, and/or intraoperative 3D imaging, for example cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), are used to plan the intervention. Planning the intervention entails locating the target of the intervention and planning a needle target trajectory to the located target. Plain fluoroscopy and fluoroscopy fused with planning imaging are used intraprocedure to guide the needle insertion and progress to the target. This is for example available in the Innova Track Vision product available from GE Healthcare. The needle can also be reconstructed from two radioscopic projections to enhance the CBCT image and show progress of the needle to the target. This is for example provided by the Stereo 3D product available from GE Healthcare.
Needle insertion may also be guided by laser light which materializes the optical axis of the X-ray imaging system and guides the needle insertion into the patient in a “bullseye” view. External laser alignment devices may be used to guide needle insertion along a trajectory which does not coincide with the X-ray imaging system optical axis. However, these systems require alignment with the patient bed and are further loosely integrated with the X-ray imaging system.